240 Tasting Notes

78

Thanksgiving means a trip up to moms house, and rummaging through her tea collection. This is a good Breakfast Tea, very good as far as boxed, bagged tea goes. Not bad. Could use more depth in flavor, but I’ll take it.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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80
drank Hua Ki by Lupicia
240 tasting notes

I recently went to Hawaii. With 100 high school band kids. Awesome kids, awesome trip.

While there, we rented equipment and played with a friend’s school program. We had become friends over the years, so this year, we did an exchange concert at the local high school.

As a gift from the host to the guest, I got this tea package. Good work Jason, you know me well!

Anyway, I am finally getting around to giving it a proper taste. Here we go!

To start off, I’m normally not a huge fan of blends. I’m more of a purist, unless it’s done in an interesting and tasty way. And it must be well balanced. Too many tea companies hide bad tea base taste by dumping in whatever might taste good.

This is not that. Right off the bat, opening the package, I get a beautiful, tropical fragrance. The smells of mango, apple, papaya, and pineapple popped out and made me think I was still on the islands. But the black tea base was still present, nice and gentle. Good sign.

I brewed this in my 32 ounce Bodum Assam tea pot with boiling water over 7 grams (the package said 2-2.5 grams per 1-2 cups of tea…), and steeping for 2:30, after rinsing, of course.

The aroma of the liqueur is surprisingly even better than the dried leaves. The dried fruit smell is still present, but not as in your face. The black tea gets to stand out just a bit more, bringing out a wonderful balance, one that I am not used to in a tea with this much fruit presence.

The taste is right there as well. The hints of all those fruits are still there, mixed wonderfully inside the black tea base. And it is a great black tea base, not over the top itself, trying to be something it doesn’t need to be in a tea blend, but still confident and right at the front, with just a touch of that velvety smooth roast, just a touch of earthy malt that defines a really good black tea.

Now, the tea package that this tea came in also had a small bear container of local Hawaiian honey, so my 2nd cup I added about a tablespoon to my 1.5 cup mug. I’m not normally a honey-in-my-tea fan, or anything else, really. milk, sugar, lemon, anything. Just give me my tea straight. But, if a company is going to go through the trouble of making a tea package with local honey in it, they must be pretty proud of it, so I’ll give it a shot.

Damn, that’s some good honey. It really does go well, surprisingly, with this tea. You don’t need much, I probably could have used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon, but it mixes very well with the fruit overtones and the black tea base, without taking away from those flavors, or worse yet, the flavors battling and fighting because they don’t get along, either in my mouth or in my stomach.

None of that, this honey matches this tea very nicely. I’ll be honest, I prefer it alone, without the honey. But either way, this tea is very, very good.

I think I’ll be buying more from Lupicia in the future. Thanks, Jason!

-E

Flavors: Apple, Earth, Fruity, Malt, Mango, Pineapple, Smooth, Tropical

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec 7 g 32 OZ / 946 ML
Mookit

That sounds like a lovely and delicious tea package!

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78
drank Yume by Lupicia
240 tasting notes

Home from Hawaii, with a couple of tea souvenirs. First up is this Yume tea from Lupicia. Yume means “dream” in Japanese, and I see why it carries this name.

I’m normally not a big fan of blends, but as I discover more, I am finding more and more that have a great balance. Basically, they are more than just some fruit dumped in a tea bag.

This tea has a wonderful tropical feel, a bit fruity with hints of vanilla and strawberry, but it keeps a nice and tasty black tea base. A balance like this means the maker is proud of the fruit and flavor blend, but also proud of the base. No need to hide it when it is this good!

Flavors: Rose, Strawberry, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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85

This is an amazing tea. I would like to have more of the Rooibos base shine through, but aside from that, the flavors are very well balanced, and very smooth. The tropical fruit overtones are delightful, making this tea super drinkable.

I’m usually not a huge fan of fruit tea blends, but this may be one of the best I have ever tried. I would definitely buy this again and keep it handy, I’m thinking it would be great during a warmish late Spring rain.

-E

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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64
drank Moroccan Mint by Teavana
240 tasting notes

The 4th selection from Teavana’s Green Tea Essentials box set. In my opinion, the better pf the two mint teas in the box. This one is more similar to the higher grade mint teas I have tried, but there is still something not quite right. The flavors just mix a little too much, resulting in a sort of bland mesh of green tea and mint. The flavors don’t shine on their own, and there is almost a sour taste to it.

I would say, much like the rest of the Teavana selections I have tried, that they are better than the low and mid grade grocery store boxed teas, and on par with the higher quality grocery store stuff.

I guess I just expect more from a tea house that calls itself high quality, high grade tea. Not super impressed.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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60
drank Jade Citrus Mint by Teavana
240 tasting notes

Another selection from Teavana’s Green Tea Essentials box set.

It’s…. OK. Nothing to write home about. I have had better Mint Tea from grocery store boxes. I have certainly also had worse, so I would put this Teavana selection in the middle. Slightly better than the cheap stuff, on par with the quality grocery store boxes.

Of course, Teavana advertises itself as a high grade, high quality teahouse. I just don’t see it. It is better than most grocery store boxed teas, but for those of us that have had better, it just doesn’t compare.

It’s like the Sam Adams of tea. Really good if you don’t really know beer, but once you start experimenting and learning, you find that it isn’t as good as it thinks it is.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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73

Easily the best tea in Teavana’s Green Tea Essentials box set. But there is still something missing. Clarity in flavor for one thing. The flavors are good, but they aren’t very set apart from each other. Nothing shines, everything is mashed together, resulting in a sort of bland, messy flavor.

I keep hearing people say that Teavana is a high quality tea house, but what I have tried is just a little better than the medium grade stuff in boxes in the grocery store, and the tea itself might be loose leaf, but it is chopped, not whole leaf.

Not super impressed.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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75
drank Gyokuro Imperial by Teavana
240 tasting notes

I want to like this tea more. It has potential, but the flavors just aren’t well balanced. It’s not bad, really, but it just isn’t as good as it should be, or as good as Teavana says it is.

Long story short, it has a great flavor, but those flavors get lost among each other, and the end product is a bit bland and mixed.

Don’t get me wrong, this is better than most teas I’ve bought in boxes at grocery stores, but it is just not nearly up to par with the concept of high grade, quality loose leaf tea like Teavana wants to be.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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77
drank Vanilla Chai Tea by Bigelow
240 tasting notes

Found this in my moms tea cabinet.

This is the one. Years ago, this is the tea I bought when I didn’t know much about tea and wanted to learn more and made me an addict. I remember it well. I waned to like tea, but hadn’t had very good examples. I bought the big box of Lipton,and the Breakfast variety pack from Bigelow. Then I bought this and changed the way I looked at tea. I started branching out and eventually journeyed to Red Blossom.

But this is the tea that started my obsession. It’s pretty bland for a chai, decent balance but not great clarity of flavors. I do like the subtlety of the vanilla, it’s not overpowering but it is there.

It’s an OK tea, certainly down on the list now that I have tried some pretty amazing chai, but it will always hold a special place in my heart for being there when I needed it.

-E

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML

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80
drank Earl Grey by St. Dalfour
240 tasting notes

Still on vacation. Still trolling through my moms tea cabinet. She has a good collection, but most of it is fruit tea and blends. Not super what I am in to.

There are some pretty good catches, and this is one of them.

This is a pretty solid, very basic Earl Grey. Just what I look for. When you have a solid, super tasty tea, you don’t need to spice it up or go for some over the top thing. That is what appreciate about this. It is super solid, very well balanced. Every flavor that should be present in an Earl Grey is there, and nothing stands out.

For a boxed, bagged tea, this is very good.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML

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